Quote:
I don't think that Hurin actually killed seventy trolls.
|
Thank you, Timloth the Guest: exactly what I searched for this topic to say. Many of us have long thought "70 trolls... hmm, impressive... too impressive!" Well, it took me until my sixth reading of
The Silmarillion but I too finally realise that Húrin did
not kill 70 trolls. Operative bit of the passage is:
Quote:
... each time that he slew Húrin cried: "Aurë entuluva! Day shall come again!" Seventy times he uttered that cry...
|
Húrin killed 70 times. If he killed 70 trolls, that means he did not kill any orcs. We know that he hewed the arms off orcs who grappled him; it is very likely that he did kill some. How many orcs and how many trolls we may never know. Personally, I might guess at about a dozen trolls, which is still phenomenal! That way I get to keep my image of trolls as being pretty bad-@ss customers, for anybody; also that keeps it in the realm of believability.